Charlotte
by Ebony Bluebell
Summary: "She made you grow up, didn't she." Ten years after meeting a girl named Charlotte, Coop meets her again, and he remembers. One-Shot. No pairings


As I walked down the street, I smiled at every one I passed. It was a good day out, and no one was going to ruin it for me. When I look across the road, I saw someone I hadn't seen in ten years. She was now about twenty-three, and from what I saw, she was happy. Ny worry for her didn't dissolve, and my memories hit me like a ton of bricks.

* * *

_"What do we have?" I asked, as I walked in the room._

_"Girl, about twelve, badly beaten, and left in the street. Need to sew gash along face," Jackie told me, pointing to the large gash, from corner of mouth on the left side, to the corner of her left eye, "and the ones on her sides."_

_"Why did you page me for this?" I asked, getting slightly nervous._

_"You are the only doctor available. Please, Cooper. I'm begging you, I can't do this on my own, and Zoey can't help enough."_

_She looked up at me, her eyes full of tears. I nodded, and we got to work. We started by sewing up her face, and then I helped Jackie to remove her shirt. We worked in silence, cleaning up the wounds._

_I did catch something that will be burned into my memory forever, something I shouldn't have seen on a twelve year old. On her arm, I could see a group of scars. I recognized them to be self harm scars, and I knew this wasn't the first time something like this has happened._

_I looked at Jackie, and I saw a tear slip down her face. I looked away and carried on sewing up the gash on her left side, while Jackie continued with the one on her right. When we finished, we wrapped them up, and left the room. I went and washed my hands, and when I came back, I walked right into Jackie._

_"What the hell, Cooper? Watch where you're going!" She snapped, walking off. I didn't miss the tear stains on her cheeks. I went to the waiting room, aware of the fact that two girls were waiting for news, and I approached them._

_"Hi girls, do you mind telling me her name?" I asked the distraught girls._

_"Charlotte Hayden." The older looking one said._

_"Can you tell me what happened to her?" I asked. I heard Jackie walk in (I couldn't mistake those footsteps), and I knew she was standing within earshot._

_"If my suspicions are correct, she'll be scared... no, no, not scared, terrified of me." The red head said. I looked at her, and her green eyes were shining with more tears._

_"But, no we are not sure, and she most definitely won't tell anyone. We have to figure it out from the names she with give us, which is easy for me to do, once I have names." The other girl said._

_"Can I have your names, please?" Jackie asked, sitting next to me._

_"Uh, yeah, I'm Saffron Dawn, and that is Rihanna Bench." The older looking one said, "I'm fifteen, Rihanna is fourteen and and Charlotte turned thirteen last week." I saw her nod._

_"Does her parents know?" Jackie asked._

_"No." The pair of them said in unison._

_"I need to call them. I have two daughters at home, I wouldn't want this kept from me."_

_"Her mother is in Europe right now, and her father doesn't deserve to know. He is one of her monsters. Her mother doesn't care. Only we care. She needs us, and only us." Rihanna cried softly, catching Jackie's arm, "Please don't."_

* * *

_When we were done questioning the girls, I showed them to her room, and I left to tend to other patients. I acted my cheerful, carefree self, and Jackie caught on. We were acting to cover up the pain of what had been revealed. It was hard, but we got through our shift. When mine ended, I went to Charlotte's room, and found Saffron trying to talk to her._

_"Please tell me, Char." She begged._

_"Let me forget!" Charlotte cried. She was somehow sat up, and tears were rolling down her face._

_"We can't let you forget until this is solved, Charlotte." I said, sitting on the edge of her bed._

_"Who are you?" She asked._

_"That is the doc who stitched you up." Saffron explained._

_"Thanks for that. You didn't have too." She told me, a small smile on her face._

_"It's my job." I said with a grin. Saffron stood, and looked at Charlotte._

_"I'll be back tomorrow. Promise." I watched her leave, and I turned back to Charlotte, in time to see the first tear to slip down her face._

_"Hey, what's up? Are you in pain?" I asked._

_"No. I'm tired, stressed, alone and scared, all at the same time." She whispered._

_"You are never gonna be alone again." It was a promise, and I would keep it._

_I stayed with her until she fell asleep, but when I went to move, She grabbed onto my hand, and whispered a word._

_"Stay." She sounded fully awake, but I should tell she was out for the night._

_A few minutes after this, Jackie walked in, her frown turning into a small sad smile._

_"Why are you still here?" We both asked the other in unison. We locked eyes, before I started sniggering at it. She shook her head, and sat on the other side of the bed, taking her other hand._

_"I am here, because I have a feeling that I need to stay here." She explained. I nodded._

_"You aren't the only one." I told her, turning back to the girl on the bed._

_We sat in silence for about an hour before she drifted to sleep in the chair by the bed, still holding Charlotte's hand. I drifted to sleep moments later._

* * *

_I watched her walk out of the hospital a few months later. She had been adopted, and was being taken away to live. She was going to forget. She turned back to me._

_"Thank you. You promised I will never be alone, and I won't now. Thank you for saving my life."_

_I smiled, "It's my job, now go."_

_"I will be forever grateful." She told me before walking away. Someone came up behind me._

_"She made you grow up, didn't she." The person said. I turned to Zoey, and smiled._

_"Yes."_

* * *

"Dr. Cooper?" She asked, walking up to me. I took in her face, the way her scar showed up, but her face was in a never ending smile.

"Coop." I corrected. She sighed.

"How are you, Cooper?" She asked.

"I'm alright, you?"

"I'm okay now. I kept in touch with Jackie over the years, she said you grew up, after I left. She also said that you worried about me. I didn't believe her." She laughed.

"Well... it's sorta true." She laughed again. Her brown eyes looked up into mine, and I saw life in them. Like in the pictures she had shown me, during her long stay at the hospital. It made me smile.

"It was great seeing you, but I have to go home, and relieve my babysitter." She told me, before walking off. I watched her go, and the worry I had felt for the past ten years went with her.


End file.
